Upgrades, $50M needed to secure GOP convention

Downtown’s Duke Energy Center, left, and the Millennium Hotel would be important sites for hosting a convention. But the Millennium needs significant upgrades.(Photo: The Enquirer/Gary Landers)Buy Photo

Story Highlights

Cincinnati is one of six cities being considered to host the 2016 Republican National Convention.

The biggest challenges are raising at least $50 million; sprucing up U.S. Bank Arena

Longtime convention-goer Stan Chesley said winning the convention bid is about donors, not a city's amenities

Now that Cincinnati has made the short list of possible 2016 Republican National Convention host cities, the real work begins: showing the selection committee why Cincinnati is ready for prime time.

A site visit is scheduled for later this month. The competition: Dallas, Las Vegas, Cleveland, Kansas City, Denver – all bigger cities, all of which have made past pitches or even hosted recent political conventions.

"We feel confident that Cincinnati is equipped to offer a Republican National Convention experience second to none, and we look forward to showcasing our vibrant, convenient and world-class city," Host Committee member John Barrett, CEO of Western & Southern Financial Group, said this month.

Enid Mickelsen, chairwoman of the 2016 selection committee, has stressed that bid cities must meet the four criteria:

• Raise $55 million in private money.

• Have a convention area that seats at least 18,000.

• Supply 16,000 hotel rooms plus 1,000 suites.

• Be able to accommodate media from around the world.

So what does Cincinnati have to do to get the convention – which would be its first national political convention in 136 years?

The Enquirer queried convention experts, local leaders and political insiders to see just what the city needs to do to go from short list to top pick.

There's no question Cincinnati is surging with newly minted culinary cred, a boom of boutique hotels and the renaissance of the riverfront and Gateway districts. But all of that is secondary to raising enough money.

For Cincinnati it will come down to raising the money and fixing up U.S. Bank Arena, although it already meets stage size and seating requirements.

Holly Hughes, chairwoman of the 2012 Republican National Convention site selection committee, said Cincinnati would be a good pick.

"In the old days it was Chicago, Chicago, Detroit, but America has changed a lot since the early days of conventions," Hughes said. "Ohio is a very important state to winning the presidency, so I'm not surprised Ohio is in the mix."

Cincinnati has about 3,000 hotel rooms Downtown, but add in Northern Kentucky and that number jumps to 26,000. The Millennium Hotel, Greater Cincinnati's largest with 872 rooms, needs fixes, but even that is not seen as a deal killer.

The rewards are fairly clear: An estimated $200 million economic impact and a week in the international spotlight.

Here's a closer look at the hurdles:

Money: Host city must raise $50 million to $55 million

Hamilton County Republican Party Chairman Alex Triantafilou wouldn't say how much has been raised so far, only that "we're well on our way."

That money goes directly to the RNC for event costs – lighting, security, transportation and catering.

"Numbers get tossed around a lot," Triantafilou said. "We hear Tampa had less than $50 million, that the RNC wants more than $50 million. We decided $50 million was a number that would make us competitive."

Republican lobbyist Chip Gerhardt said the money is the biggest hurdle, but that it will be a challenge for the other cities, too – except possibly Las Vegas.

"To date we're not sure any community on the list has completely figured that out," Gerhardt said.

Gov. John Kasich has promised that if an Ohio city wins the bid, JobsOhio will pitch in $10 million. It doesn't help that Cincinnati can't reach out statewide since Cleveland remains in the mix.

Cincinnati has a "unique corporate and political community," Gerhardt said. "We need buy-in from the entire community, political as well as corporate, if we're going to be able to pull this off," he said.

Triantafilou is confident Cincinnati can raise the cash.

Barrett is committed to the effort, and Cincinnati has a strong business community with 10 Fortune 500 companies, Triantafilou said.

No taxpayer money would be involved – at least not at this point.

U.S. Bank Arena: Big enough, but in need of renovation

U.S. Bank Arena is almost 40 years old and hasn't had a major renovation since 1997. It's gotten so bad the biggest and best conventions and concerts are bypassing Cincinnati in favor of newer, amenity-laden facilities, an earlier Enquirer report found.

Still, it does meet the size and seating requirements. The convention requires 18,000 seats; U.S. Bank Arena has a stated seating capacity of 17,556, but arena officials say seating can reach 18,772.

The privately owned arena is widely thought to need upgrades. UC officials say Cincinnati and Hamilton County officials want them to consider playing home basketball games in the Downtown arena, but they have not seen a plan that would make it work.

Ray Harris, Nederlander's CEO, told The Enquirer in February a large-scale renovation would cost at least $100 million – money that can't be recouped with the Cyclones as the lone tenant.

Nederlander is pouring $650,000 into an upgrade that will make room for larger stages and 1,300 additional seats – the pricier ones performers look for when booking venues. And, if the city lands the convention, the company will invest roughly another $4 million, said arena spokesman Sean Lynn.

That money will go into dressing rooms and locker rooms, which will also help in luring post-season NCAA basketball games.

"We're told we meet all specification and requirements," Lynn said. "We realize the RNC will ask for modifications, and we'll see what we can get done."

He added every arena is different, making it difficult to make comparisons.

"You can do the comparison game, but that's not fair," he said. "In this case you have to look at the RNC's expectations. That's more realistic."

Lessons from Tampa's 2012 Republican convention

How Tampa prepared for the 2012 Republican Convention can offer guidance to Cincinnati.

The city's convention bureau, Visit Tampa Bay, pitched Tampa three times before being awarded host-city honors.

The city improved the Tampa Bay Times Forum and many hotel facilities between winning the bid and the convention, said Susan Williams, Visit Tampa Bay's director of convention services.

The owner of the NHL's Tampa Bay Lightning, Jeff Vinik, was already working on a $50 million arena renovation, Williams said. That meant by the time the RNC arrived, the arena had new seats and suites, renovated concourses and a high-speed wireless system.

But ask Bill Wickett, a spokesperson for the Tampa Bay Times Forum, what he'd tell other cities.The best advice has nothing to do with staging. It gets back to money.

Longtime Democratic Party donor Stan Chesley, who has hosted events in his Indian Hill home for former President Bill Clinton, has been to so many conventions he lost count.

Among them: Denver, Boston and Chicago. But he has no doubt Cincinnati has a shot.

It's not about amenities; it's about the donors, he said. And Cincinnati has them, he said.

"Major-major donors do not miss a convention, but they don't sit in the seats. They're out and about," Chesley said. "The delegates are the worker bees; they have meetings and sit in the arena most of evening."

The players, he said, attend black-tie parties and events where they can see and possibly meet the candidate.

Elizabeth Bennion, a political scientist who teaches courses about U.S. political campaigns at Indiana University South Bend, said conventional wisdom has held that convention locations were picked to help tip a swing state. But that hasn't helped. The GOP presidential candidate has lost the convention state in the last five presidential elections.

"It seems that business decisions may dominate this decision," she said.

What's next

• In April and May a small RNC staff team will travel to short-listed cities to conduct a site visit where members will assess financing, venues, media workspace and hotels.

• They'll narrow the field even more to cities that will get official site visits in late May and early June.

• The final decision is expected by late summer.

Cincinnati Host Committee members

• John Barrett, president and CEO of Western & Southern Financial Group

• Ed Babbitt, vice president and senior counsel, Western & Southern Financial Group